Gog.
(mountain). A Reubenite, 1Ch_5:4,
son of Shemaiah.
Source:
Smith’s Bible Dictionary
Gog
gog (גּוג, gōgh; Γούγ, Goúg):
(1) A son of Joel, and descendant of the tribe of
Reuben (1Ch_5:4).
(2) The prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal (Eze_38:2 f; 39:1-16). His territory was known as
the land of Magog, and he was the chief of those northern hordes who were to
make a final onslaught upon Israel while enjoying the blessings of the
Messianic age. He has been identified with Gagi, ruler of Sakhi, mentioned by
Ashurbanipal, but Professor Sayce thinks the Hebrew name corresponds more
closely to Gyges, the Lydian king, the Gugu of the cuneiform inscriptions.
According to Ezekiel's account Gog's army included in its numbers Persia, Cush,
Put, Gomer or the Cimmerians, and Togarmah, from the extreme North. They are
represented as a vast mixed horde from the far-off parts of the North, the
limits of the horizon, completely armed and equipped for war. They were to come
upon the mountains of Israel and cover the land like a cloud. Their purpose is
plunder, for the people of Israel are rich and dwell in towns and villages
without walls. His coming, which had been prophesied by the seers of Israel,
shall be accompanied by a theophany and great convulsions in Nature. A panic
shall seize the hosts of Gog, rain, hailstones, pestilence, fire and brimstone
shall consume them. Their bodies shall be food for the birds, their weapons
shall serve as firewood for seven years and their bones shall be buried east of
the Jordan in Hamon-gog and thus not defile the holy land. The fulfillment of
this strange prophecy can never be literal. In general it seems to refer to the
last and desperate attempts of a dying heathenism to overturn the true religion
of Yahweh, or make capital out of it, profiting by its great advantages.
(3) In Rev_20:7
Satan is let loose and goes to the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to
muster his hosts for the final struggle against God. In Ezekiel the invasion of
Gog occurs during the Messianic age, while in Revelation it occurs just at the
close of the millennium. In Ezekiel, Gog and Magog are gathered by Yahweh for
their destruction; in Rev they are gathered by Satan. In both cases the number
is vast, the destruction is by supernatural means, and is complete and final.
See MAGOG.
Source:
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Gog
(1.) A
Reubenite (1Ch_5:4), the father of
Shimei.
(2.) The name
of the leader of the hostile party described in Ezek. 38, 39, as coming from
the “north country” and assailing the people of Israel to their own
destruction. This prophecy has been regarded as fulfilled in the conflicts of
the Maccabees with Antiochus, the invasion and overthrow of the Chaldeans, and
the temporary successes and destined overthrow of the Turks. But “all these
interpretations are unsatisfactory and inadequate. The vision respecting Gog
and Magog in the Apocalypse (Rev_20:8)
is in substance a re-announcement of this prophecy of Ezekiel. But while
Ezekiel contemplates the great conflict in a more general light as what was
certainly to be connected with the times of the Messiah, and should come then
to its last decisive issues, John, on the other hand, writing from the
commencement of the Messiah's times, describes there the last struggles and
victories of the cause of Christ. In both cases alike the vision describes the
final workings of the world's evil and its results in connection with the
kingdom of God, only the starting-point is placed further in advance in the one
case than in the other.”
It has been supposed to be the name of a district in the wild north-east
steppes of Central Asia, north of the Hindu-Kush, now a part of Turkestan, a
region about 2,000 miles north-east of Nineveh.
Source:
Easton’s Bible Dictionary